Learning Python
Python is actually pretty good, simple and useful programming language. It has a fairly gently learning curve, thanks to excellent documentation.
For the novice wishing to adopt Python in least possible time and quickly become productive I would recommend the following steps:
Tutorial
Tutorial given in Python docs is very good, you should just give a brief look at it if not reading it completely — it has many practical examples, which helps a lot to make a sense what the beast Python is.
Language reference
Sections 1 - 4 from The Python Language Reference. Section 3. Data Model is the most important one here. It gives a broad overview of how Python data types interacts with each other. Other sections can be read as needed — Python syntactical constructs are usually make sense from their analogues in other languages. Yield and with are the exceptions.
Standard library documentation
Python stdlib is the cause this language is so productive and popular. Read sections 1–5 from The Python Standard Library docs and keep an eye on a list of stdlib’s modules.
Common tips
A list of common tips at last:
Use Python 2.x (where x is 2.6 or 2.7)— it’s still deployed much widely than Python 3.x.
Follow PEP–8 styleguide, never step away from it!
Defining class always subclass from
object(assuming you’re using Python 2.x).Never write
from somemodule import *.Always use virtualenv for developing with Python. It’s a tool for creating isolated Python environments.
PyPi, The Python Package Index helps you to find any Python library you wish. Just use
easy_installorpipcommand for installing from there.
The end.